FBI Searches For More Victims Of 'Sextortion' Scheme Targeting Underage Girls
NEWARK, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- The FBI has launched an international campaign to stop a new Internet crime targeting both teenage girls and boys.
As CBS2's Christine Sloan reported, teens are tricked into giving predators compromising pictures of themselves online, in what is known as "sextortion." One victim has gone public to help federal agents find other teens victimized by the man who blackmailed her.
"I'm Ashley. This can't happen to me. I'm normal," says Ashley Reynolds in the video.
But it did happen to Reynolds. She became a victim of "sextortion" at 14.
"I gave him the pictures I and got to keep my reputation," she said.
A predator pretended to have naked pictures of Reynolds, and blackmailed her into sending him lewd photos of herself online. If she did not, the man threatened to send her friends the photos he claimed to have already.
"He would be like, 'No, this isn't right; this one is blurry,'" she said. "Maybe tomorrow I will get a break. I'll get a day off tomorrow if I just do all these right."
Reynolds, now 20, is going public to help the feds in their campaign to find other victims tormented by the man who turned her life into a living hell.
"I just felt depressed. I remember just laying in bed in silence and just thinking, and I felt God was so disappointed in me," Reynolds said.
Lucas Michael Chansler, 31, formerly of St. Johns, Florida, was the man who preyed on Reynolds. He was sentenced to 105 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to nine counts of producing child pornography last year.
Court documents alleged that between 2007 and January 2010, Chansler transmitted threatening communications to hundreds of girls over the Internet. He claimed to be a friend, acquaintance or admirer of the victims on a social networking site, and as he told the girls he had photos or webcam videos of them exposing themselves or engaging in sexual activity and threatened to extort them, the FBI said.
After gaining some measure of trust from a victim, Chansler would invite her into a live video chat and would ask her to expose herself – as he surreptitiously recorded the video session, the FBI said. Chansler often enticed the girls to expose themselves by showing them a streaming video of an underage boy exposing himself or masturbating, the FBI said.
He told the girls that if they did not do as he said, he would post the explicit images and videos online or send them to her family and friends, the FBI said.
Using information from a victim's parents and working with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the FBI was able to identify Chansler. They raided his home on Jan. 8, 2010, the FBI said.
During an interview, Chansler said he used social networking sites to meet girls between the ages of 13 and 18, the FBI said. He said he targeted underage girls because grown women were "too smart" to fall for his scheme, the FBI said.
Authorities found hundreds of folders in Chansler's computer documents with the name of each victim, along with personal information, chat logs, and digital photos, the FBI said. Many chat logs contained the threats Chansler made, and in several videos, the victims are seen crying and pleading with him, the FBI said.
In all, Chansler had about 80,000 images and videos in his possession, the FBI said.
Chansler targeted 350 victims in 26 states, three Canadian provinces, and the United Kingdom, the FBI said. A total of 109 have been identified.
"Any person should find this heinous," said Newark FBI Special-Agent-in-Charge Richard Frankel. "As a parent, I find it especially heinous."
FBI officials said predators target children by turning on their computer webcams remotely.
"So if you're not using your webcam on your computer, put a piece of tape over it; put a piece of paper over it," Frankel said.
Reynolds remembers when her parents found out.
"I still remember going into the bedroom where the computer was, where my parents sat me down, I was like (deep breath). It was like, instant, like panic attack," she said.
But she added, "That's heaven compared to feeling alone and closed."
People with information that may help identify Chansler's victims, or who believe they might have been victimized by Chansler themselves, is asked to complete a confidential questionnaire at www.fbi.gov/sextortion or submit a confidential e-mail to FBIVICTIMASSISTANCE@IC.FBI.GOV.
Calls are also accepted at the FBI Newark Field Office at (973) 792-3000 or call toll-free at 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324).